Charlie Fiske. a Peace Corps volunteer with long ties to the Brockton area, writes from Malawi.

Taking stock after six months with the Peace Corps

About this blog

By Charlie Fiske

Charlie Fiske, a long-time Bridgewater resident, will spend 26 months in the African country of Malawi as a public health advisor in an HIV/AIDS program. Malawi has a life expectancy of 52 years old and 11 percent of the country has HIV/AIDS
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Charlie Fiske, a long-time Bridgewater resident, will spend 26 months in the African country of Malawi as a public health advisor in an HIV/AIDS program. Malawi has a life expectancy of 52 years old and 11 percent of the country has HIV/AIDS according to the CIA Factbook. Fiske, who now lives in Arlington, is a 66-year-old lobbyist with two children, ages 31 and 30. The average age of a Peace Corps volunteer is 28 with seven percent of volunteers older than 50.

What seems like the national game - bawo - played on a board with marbles in each of the slots - Ntcheu, Malawi (Charlie Fiske photo)

The two year Peace Corps stay is marked by a series of milestones designed to reinforce our role as guests. We are here for a short time formulating as well as initiating some existing and new service projects. The first months are the basic training phase to learn about the culture and language of Malawi.

A part of that training time includes living with a local family in a village. That initial training was followed in May by a swearing in ceremony. We take an oath to support the US Constitution and faithfully exercise our specific duties while serving in the Peace Corps. It’s basically the same oath taken by all including the military that serve in the US government at all levels.

We were then assigned to specific location within the country. Our group of 34 includes both health and environment workers. We are stationed at either health care sites or environmental posts.

After the initial four months of work we were just recalled for a two week in service training. It was a chance to rejoin our original group. Also included were refresher language classes as well as sessions supplying program frameworks to help with our work efforts.

We’ve had the experience of living and working in Malawi for six months. That experience changed all of us with a more realistic understanding of what is possible as well as factors beyond our control. Our next milestone is the mid service training at the half way point during our two year stay.

When we draw nearer to our final days here there will be a close of service debriefing marking the end of our time in Malawi.

It took returning to my home town of Ntcheu after two weeks away to feel the effects of all the time spend reviewing much of what we know. Training sometimes seems an unwelcomed visitor especially when we are “too busy” to interrupt our hectic and dedicated schedules. What could I possibly need to know that I haven’t already figured out on my own? There is a whole lot.

Training is the subtle opportunity giving distance and perspective to where we are. Training offered a mirrored view of how we’ve changed since living in Malawi. We are not the same people that arrived last Mach. The changes are subtle like the movement of the sun between 1:00 and 2:00 o’clock, when hours quietly turn into days and days into months.

For many the two week training session measured what we’ve done and charts a course for those elements needing attention. Ultimately in my case specific project steps were identified. Taskswere formulated that will lead to improving the lives of those within the targeted villages.

My project works with a clustered group of 53 villages with a focus on two areas. One target is vulnerable children and the other is persons living or exposed to HIV/AIDS. The hands on work is done at the village level by trained village residents.

From a programmatic and practical approach it is the best way to insure some lasting sustainable changes. The process is extremely slow. The easiest way to describe what is being attempted would be to teach a right handed person to be more skilled using the left hand. Culture, custom and history are often the stumbling blocks preventing or interrupting change.

The biggest challenge is adequate program supervision so that expectations and goals are clear as well as monitored. All of the supervision has to be done by existing staff if it is to be sustainable. To have the outside person jump in and take over only leaves a void when that outside person leaves. It is so tempting to say “This is how it should be done.” Keeping quiet is more than a challenge for some of us.

One example comes to mind that has to do with problems related to underground wells. Some years ago thousands of wells with hand pumping stations were installed throughout the country. The availability of a water sources closer to villages was greatly welcomed.

After a few seasons some of the pumps failed because of maintenance problems. A few weeks ago a water engineer told me that the average cost for a part needed was $25 and no cost exceeded $300. At the local level no one was ever trained in maintenance and as a result failed pumps went unused for years. It is so easy to fix some things but another to do it in a way that change remains in effect for generations.

The training session highlighted a framework plan to give us reasonable and measureable goals. It certainly is much more than having our group of thirty four do “busy work” for the next few years. There is always something to do. Almost as critical is understanding what not to do.

Much of the discussion centered on what teachers call “curriculum framework”. What are you teaching, who and how is it to be done and can it be measured? For us the model is either a health care or environment framework. Perhaps it should be titled a “Malawi Lesson Plan”

My Impact project looks at ten areas of concern included under the headings of vulnerable children and those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Rather than reexamine the ten areas, the framework model points me in a direction that is more beneficial for the overall project. It also keeps me out of the operations and direct service delivery which should be done by Malawian villager to villager.

My framework plan highlights six areas of activity that are scheduled within specific time frames and can be easily measured for completion or success. Some of those activities have either been ignored or never addressed. Sometimes a project moves at its own speed and it is not unusual for some strategic details to get missed.

Such failures happen in Malawi and with health care/human service projects at home. The role is to be like a spotter on a high cliff counting the passing ships and getting a broader view of the fleet. This ties into leaving no footprints thus having projects that are sustainable beyond my stay here.

My six areas of activity are

.Identifying the stakeholders - especially the not so visible ones •Installing and enhancing a data system that is useful to local stakeholders •Expand a broader list of stakeholders who can influence future development •Identify activities/organizations that will sustain the project beyond the contract period •Develop and implement a network of resources for the ongoing project •Match up the existing project in relations to Peace Corps goals and framework

This does sound fairly academic but it is designed to have all activities linked back into the project and benefit the thousands of individuals at the village level. There is also the effort to have the project flow with a harmony that easily identifies progress that is measurable. Activities for the sake of activity only last for the moment.

Change here is a long slow process like trying to turn a large seafaring vessel onto a new course. What presents a challenge is the need to continually think strategically. What I sometimes think as ordinary business planning might not get the attention it deserves. Being here taps into all those learned life skills gained through countless trails and errors over the years.

Change will happen because a Malawi lesson plan is taking shape. Two years is not a long time to put it into practice.